All This Love – Patti LaBelle | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: R&B (#42); 1994
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
As chief songwriter and arranger for his family’s group, El DeBarge came up with a couple of winners in 1983: I Like It (#2 R&B) and All This Love (#5 R&B). On the latter, El laid down a gorgeous vocal that set a high standard for all who might tackle All This Love in the future.
Perhaps that’s why so few artists covered it. One artist up to the challenge was Patti LaBelle, who’d been wrapping her soul stirring pipes around songs since the early 1960’s when she let Down The Aisle loose on a startled public.
In 1975 her named-after-her trio boogied to #1 with the high-struttin’ Lady Marmalade. After LaBelle broke up, Patti returned to hometown Philadelphia, where she recorded her first solo chart topper, If Only You Knew.
Two years later, in 1986, Patti was on top again with singing partner Michael McDonald and On My Own. In 1994 Patti covered All This Love, which – coincidentally – charted at the same time as El DeBarge’s latest hit, Where Is My Love?.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Teddy Riley
Lyrics Written by:
- Sam Dees
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).